Slow Me Down
by wyntter rose
Summary: Hermione wakes up and everything has changed. Now rather than hating Malfoy.. they're in love? She won't stand for it. She is going to find out what happened and she is going to change it back. Hopefully without falling for him first.
1. Rushing & Racing & Spinning in Circles

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. All places and characters belong to JK Rowling. I do not make any money off of this piece or writing, it is purely fictional.

"Ugh."

A hand reached out from under the comforter and a hand came up to cover the eyes of a young woman so that she didn't have to stare into the sun. She whimpered softly at the thought of having to crawl out of bed, but she eventually did just that and then set about making the bed. She was used to making the bed every morning after she awoke, so she could almost do it with her eyes closed. This is exactly what she was doing on this morning, feeling around for the edges of the bed so that she didn't trip and fall.

"Who in Merlin's name decided that the sun should be what the first thing we see when we wake up? I'm going to hex them silly."

When she finished making the bed she leaned against it and smiled softly to herself. She liked getting to it early so that Mrs. Weasley didn't come barging into the room screaming at everyone in the house to get their rooms straightened up. She knew that she didn't have to worry about her friend Luna Lovegood making her bed, Luna barely slept under the covers because she was afraid that the nargles would get to her, she just hoped that her best girl friend, Ginny Weasley, had remembered to make hers before she had left the room in search of her boyfriend. Of course they wouldn't have to worry about Mrs. Weasley screaming at them to clean their rooms and make their beds if they could manage to find and kill off that stupid snake of a man whose name was actually feared by people of all ages in the wizarding community. As it was, they were simply hiding out at the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix until they were able to go back to living a semi-peaceful existence. Nothing was ever completely peaceful when you were best friends with 'The Boy Who Lived' and were the smartest witch of your age. It just wasn't possible. Add to it that she was a muggle-born witch, and things were usually disastrous around her when Death Eaters were involved.

"I feel like I'm a Jew hiding out from the Nazi's," she said softly to herself as she ran her hands over her eyes "or like I'm Shiloh from Repo. I wish they would just realize that we aren't kids anymore. We can take care of ourselves." The Order, however, didn't think that was so. Ever since Snape had killed Dumbledore they hadn't been trusted to take care of themselves no matter what. There was always someone in the house with them making sure that they couldn't get into any trouble. They weren't even allowed to leave the house, with or without someone with them.

She sighed quietly and then made her way over to her desk that she shared with Ginny. She had yet to fully open her eyes and look around since the sun was so bright, but when she did - and her brown eyes connected with the room - she was shocked to say the least. To say that something was off about the room would be an understatement. Gone was the second bed, a bunk bed that was shared by her two best friends Ginny and Luna. Gone was the small dresser that barely had enough room for one person's clothes, let alone three. Gone were the picture frames that usually sat on the dresser filled with pictures and newspaper clippings from the war. Instead, as she looked around, only the desk seemed even remotely close to what she was used to seeing in the room.

The room was quite a bit larger than what she was used to - dark cherry wood covered the walls where only a few pictures hung. She stepped closer and was pleased to find that she had a picture of her parents smiling at her hanging right over one side of the vanity table. "We never had one of these before," she muttered as she swept a hand over it. It had a marble top that was cool to the touch and was full of drawers. She wanted to know what was in the drawers, but figured that could wait a bit. She wanted to see what else was different about the room and she wasn't sure how long she was going to have to look around. Instead of the single bed and the bunk bed taking up nearly an entire wall, there was a large four poster bed in its place. Its sheets were a metallic looking silver color whereas the comforter and pillow cases were a deep forest green. The sheets were shimmery, as if they were made of water, but as she drew closer she could feel that they were just made of silk. In one corner of the room there was an ornate fireplace flocked by two elephant chairs. There were two stacks of books over on the rug by the fire, so she was quite surprised that she didn't see a bookcase. If this were her room she would have made sure a bookcase was in place before anything else.

Shaking her head at the strange room, she grabbed her robes which had somehow ended up on the chair at the desk and she headed into what she hoped was the bathroom. She was happy to find that there was nothing really strange in there except that everything seemed much bigger. There was a tub that was about as big as the one in the prefects' bathroom at Hogwarts, and a shower that could easily fit four or five people into it comfortably. She took her shower and tried not to think about how odd it was that everything around her was so different.

"Where am I?"

She had to keep questioning herself because she didn't understand what had happened. If they had changed the look and or location of Headquarters, she would have known about it. If she had been kidnapped then surely whoever had kidnapped her would not be letting her do her own thing for so long without coming to check on her. She couldn't think of anything else that would have caused this. So she was even more shocked when she stepped out of the shower and pulled on her clothes after drying off only to see a blinding flash across her chest for a moment. She gasped as she looked down and came face to face with the one thing she had wanted more than anything else in the entire world.

"I'm Head Girl? Oh my god, I'm Head Girl!" Being Head Girl had been her dream ever since she'd read about it in Hogwarts: A History. At that moment, she didn't care if she was in some alternate universe, or in outer space. She was Head Girl, and as she looked in the mirror and saw brown eyes staring back at her and bushy hair, she knew that she was still the same girl. As long as she was still Hermione Jean Granger, and Head Girl at Hogwarts, it didn't matter was thrown her way.

"Let's go see what else is different around this crazy world," she giggled as she began walking out of the room. She bit her lip as she tried to decide where to go first. She knew that she was in Hogwarts, and by the looks of the badge on her chest she had to assume that she was in the Head's dorms. She didn't even stop to wonder why everything in the room was green, she just skipped on her merry way. She had only made it about six feet when her stomach started to rumble so she figured her first stop would be the Great Hall where she could pick up something to eat and then go look for her friends.

She was glad that there were only a few stragglers in the Great Hall by the time she got there. She must have been there late which was probably why everyone was staring at her as she made her way to the Gryffindor table and sat down to eat. It didn't take her long at all to finish what she had put on her plate, probably because there wasn't much there. Ron must have come by and eaten everything before she could get to it. She smiled at the thought of her friend and then hopped up in an effort to go find them. But first, she wanted to see just how different things were. And the only to see that, would be to go looking for the one person that she hated more than anybody else in the world.

Draco Malfoy.

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A/N: Thank you guys for reading this. It isn't my first fan fiction that I have written, but it's the first one that I'm going to try and finish. Let me know what you guys think. Even if it's something like "good" or "bad" I would really like to know what you guys think of it. Xoxo. Oh.. also.. I'm writing this story as if this were all going on in 2009, not 1998. I don't remember 1998, I was 8 years old. So if you start reading this and decide that you don't like it because it's not in the right year.. then don't read it. My story, I can do what I want with it.


	2. Moving So Fast I'm Forgetting My Purpose

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. All places and characters belong to JK Rowling. I do not make any money off of this piece or writing, it is purely fictional.

She took a deep breath and then headed out to where she hoped to find the prissy Slytherin boy - in the dungeons. She had just barely made it around the corner when she heard some people talking and laughing with each other. She turned towards the voices and was surprised to see Malfoy and his goons Crabbe and Goyle along with Parkison and Zabini. It was the first time she had ever seen them laughing without malice behind it.

Clearing her throat she stepped out from her hiding place behind the wall and bit her lip. It was as if all of her confidence fled her the moment she stepped out into the open. She didn't know what things were like in this world, or if she was even allowed to be there. She just stared at them with wide eyes before whispering "Malfoy" so quietly that she wasn't sure if anybody even heard her. But when his eyes lit up at the sight of her she regretted whispering it. Knowing that she needed to get over her fear of the boy - for that's all he was - she took another deep breath.

Before she could even get a word to come out of her mouth, Draco's arms were around her, picking her up and spinning her. "Good morning, princess. I'm sorry I didn't wake you up this morning. You looked so peaceful lying there with the sun shining in on you that I just couldn't wake you up." Hermione stared at the boy who was holding her and frowned. "I know you told me that no matter what I should let you know I'm going, but I couldn't. I know you haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately and I wanted to make sure that you woke up on your own."

The frown must have stayed on her face because one minute she was in his arms with him confessing things that she would have never dreamt of, and the next she was standing on the floor looking at him as he bit his lip and looked concerned. "Baby, are you okay?" She opened her mouth to speak but couldn't think of anything to say so she closed it again. That happened a couple more times before the other Slytherin's figured that she wasn't talking because they were standing there. They didn't want to be the reason for the biggest fight on campus so they headed away talking quietly to themselves.

Draco watched them walk away before turning his gray eyes back to his girlfriend. She had been acting strangely for the last couple of days, but he had yet to be able to figure out why. She hadn't been sleeping well and he thought that might have been the cause of her moodiness, but he couldn't figure out why she wasn't sleeping well. Always one to assume things were his fault, the platinum blonde wondered if it was because of something he had said or done. He hoped not, he knew better than to be on the receiving end of Hermione's anger.

"Mione, if something is wrong I really wish you would tell me what it is. Maybe I can fix it."

He watched as her eyes fell to the floor and then slowly made their way up his body. He wanted to smirk at the fact that she was checking him out, but he didn't. By the look on her face, she wouldn't appreciate that. She opened her mouth a couple more times to say something but still nothing came out. Had a spell gone wrong and she had ended up mute? It couldn't have, he'd heard her whisper his name. But not just his name, she had whispered his last name. She never called him Malfoy. Even when she was mad, she made sure to use his full name rather than just his last name.

Finally something must have clicked in her head because this time when she opened her mouth, something came out. Something that he wouldn't have expected at all, but it was something nonetheless. "Who are you and what the bloody hell have you done with Malfoy?"

Draco visibly flinched at that question, but he tried to keep his face passive. "I don't know what you're talking about, princess. I am the same guy that I have been --"

"Stop calling me princess. I'm not your bloody princess, you loathsome cockroach."

So much for nothing ruining her day.

Draco clenched his fists as he heard her calling him a cockroach. It was strange, but rather than being hurt at her words, he was angry with her. There was something going on with her and she wouldn't tell him what it was. And whatever it was that she wasn't telling him, it was pulling them apart. No - it was throwing them to opposite sides of the globe. When did she become such a snob? She had always been one of the sweetest girls in school, not to mention the smartest. Surely she could think of a better way to insult someone than to call them loathsome, or a cockroach.

"I love you to death, Hermione. But I'm not very fond of you right now." As he said those words, he turned gave her a look that would have put her six feet under if looks could kill, and then he stalked off to find his friends. At least they might be able to put him in a better mood.

Shaking her head to try and clear away the anger, Hermione set off for the library. It was her only true sanctuary, her home away from home. Just as she stepped through the doors she heard Madame Pince call to her. "Miss Granger, I'm so good that you came in today. Someone brought this to me yesterday, it seems that you dropped it sometime and they thought it was a library book."

The older woman handed her a leather bound book with shimmery gold letting on it that said nothing more than _Fireflies._ She raised an eyebrow at the woman, but took the book anyway. "I'm sure you'll be glad to get it back." After those words left her mouth, she walked away and went back to scolding the other kids in the library.

She started to walk towards the back of the library and then changed her mind. Whatever was in the book might have the answers to why she was stuck in this place. Or at the very least, it might answer what was going on between Draco and herself. She pulled the book closer to her chest and then flipped her hair over her shoulder as she made her way out of the school completely, heading over towards the lake. From what she could remember, there was a tree over there that provided enough shade that she wouldn't be in the direct sun, but enough light that she would still be able to read.

When she got down to the tree she was more than happy to find out that nobody else was around there. At least she would be able to read in peace. She took off her robes and set them on the ground and then smoothed out her uniform skirt, sitting down on the robes so she didn't get too dirty. She ran her fingers lightly over the title of the book and then opened up to the first page. "_Dear Diary;"_ Hermione almost jumped for joy when she read that. Good, she had been writing in a diary. Then that would definitely help her figure out just what was going on.

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_15 December 2004  
Dear Diary;_

_Christmas is coming soon. I don't really want to go away for holiday, but I suppose I have to. I promised my parents that this year I would actually come home and stay home for the holidays rather than running off to the Burrow so that I could spend time with Ginny and my other friends. So I figured this year was going to be boring. Well that was until what happened today happened. You'll never guess, so I'll just tell you. Draco Malfoy, hottest guy in our year – our school even – and sweetest guy on the planet, just asked me out. !!! He told me that he has liked me for a while now but he didn't want to say anything because he thought I was going out with Harry. As if. I wouldn't encroach on Ginny's property. I still can't believe he asked me out though. I am so excited. I told him that I wouldn't be able to see him during the holidays because of the promise I made to my parents, and he understood. He said that he would try and come to our house and see me on Christmas because he's planning on getting me a present. His family is rich, so he is able to get presents for the entire school if he really wanted to. But forget the rest of the school (did I really just say that?) he is offering to get me something. Plain-Jane Hermione Granger. My hand is actually shaking as I'm writing this because I am so excited. But I don't have a clue as to what I should get him. I don't have nearly as much money as they do, but I have to get him something. Maybe I'll find something while I'm shopping with Mum and Dad. _

_Xoxo.  
Hermione Granger_

_-------------------_

She shut the book when she was finished with the entry. It was extremely hard to believe that she would actually be excited about Draco Malfoy asking her out. It was even harder to believe that she had referred to him as the sweetest guy on the planet. Draco Malfoy didn't have a sweet bone in her body. But just as she thought that, she was reminded of the way he had picked her up and twirled her around and the things he had said to her. Well maybe he was sweeter than normal, but that didn't mean he was sweet. She opened it up to the next entry, trying to picture it as a work of fiction rather than as a diary entry she had written herself.

_-----------------------------_

_26 December 2004  
Dear Diary;_

_I'm sorry I didn't write earlier, but I just haven't had the time. Mum and Dad have been keeping me insanely busy with anything and everything they can think of so that I don't get too bored and decide to go to the Burrow despite the promise. But that's not all. Ever since I started going to Hogwarts, Mum and Dad have been acting funny around me. They love me, I know that, but I always have to keep things from them because they freak out over the littlest things. But this year when I came home Mum actually wanted to know what was new with me. And she promised not to freak out. So I told her about discovering some of the passages in the school that we weren't supposed to know about, and I told her about how we were planning a dance for Valentine's Day. And then I told her about Draco. I didn't tell her much, except that he had asked me out and that he's really good looking and really sweet and I think that she would like him. I also told her that I needed to go shopping and look for a Christmas present for him because he was planning on stopping by and giving me one. So we went shopping, just the two of us ALL DAY. It was the best! I ended up finding a pendent with a snake on it so I bought a chain to go with it. _

_Anyway, so when Christmas rolled around, Draco did actually show up. I was so excited. He didn't even come through the fireplace like I was expecting him to; he just walked right up to the front door and knocked. When I answered I think I startled him a little bit because I threw my arms around him in an attempt to hug him. He hugged me back though, so it's okay. And then he gave me a kiss on the cheek since my parents were there and I giggled and he handed me my gift, so I handed him his. He got me something similar to what I got him. It was a necklace and ring set. The ring was gold and had a red stone in it (I hope it's not a real ruby, that would be too much) and the necklace was also gold and had a crown pendant on it with three small red stones in it. I asked him why he chose a crown and he said it's because I'm his princess. I hugged him again and then his mom showed up (she's nice too) and spoke with my parents for a few minutes before they had to leave. It was sad, but oh well. I'll get to see him just as soon as we go back to school. _

_Xoxo.  
Hermione Granger_

_----------------------------------------------------_

She bit her lip. Well that explained why he called her princess, and it showed that he could be sweet when he wanted to. She looked down at her hand and noticed that she wasn't wearing the ring or the necklace. Maybe she had just forgotten to put them on because she wasn't used to wearing jewelry on a daily basis. She would have to check in the room later when she went back. The sun was getting lower in the sky as she sat there wondering about the jewelry, and about how different Draco seemed to be from 'her world'. Well maybe if she went ahead and went looking for her friends they would be able to explain some things for her. Who knows?

She picked herself up off the floor and grabbed her robe off the ground, pulling it around herself as she tucked the diary under her arm. She would look for her friends, talk to them, and then later she would go back to the common room and read more of her diary. Hopefully Draco wouldn't be in the common room when she got there. She didn't want to have to deal with him until she was absolutely sure what was going on with the two of them.


End file.
